Denver International Airport sets passenger traffic record in 2023

Last year, Denver International Airport set an all-time passenger traffic record, a 12.3% increase over the 69,286,461 passengers served in 2022. That year also set a passenger traffic record. 

This past year, 2023, was the first year in history that DIA served more than 70 million annual passengers.

"2023 was a year of extraordinary growth for DEN and I am proud of the airport team for the ways that we have adjusted our strategies, invested in new technologies and worked to meet the moment while also continuing to prepare for the future," said DEN CEO Phil Washington in a statement. "It is incumbent upon us to ensure the airport's infrastructure can continue to accommodate the growth we expect and that's why our Vision 100 strategic plan is focused on preparing the airport to serve 100 million annual passengers and serves as a blueprint to align DEN's decision-making and accountability."

Additional Information from DIA:

In addition to 2023 ranking as DEN's busiest year ever, the airport's passenger traffic notched several notable milestones during the year. Every single month set an all-time record in terms of passenger traffic volume. In addition, DEN recorded its five busiest months in history during the year:

• July 2023 was DEN's first-ever month with over seven million passengers and now ranks as DEN's busiest month ever;
• October 2023 and August 2023 rank as DEN's second- and third-busiest months ever, respectively, and both also recorded over seven million monthly passengers; and
• September 2023 and June 2023 round out the top five busiest months ever.

2023 marked the first year in history for DEN to exceed four million annual international passengers: a total of 4,036,545 international passengers used the airport in 2023, an increase of 21.5% as compared to 2022.  Each month was a new record, and July 2023 was the first month ever to record more than 400,000 international passengers. In total, international passengers accounted for 5.2% of DEN's traffic in 2023, up from the pre-pandemic level of 4.6% in 2019.

DEN's two largest carriers, United and Southwest, set all-time passenger records in 2023. United served more than 36 million passengers during the year and captured 46.8% of total DEN market share. Southwest captured 30.9% of total DEN market share on annual volume exceeding 24 million passengers. DEN's third-largest carrier, Frontier, served more than 7.5 million passengers during the year, accounting for 9.6% of total market share and the carrier's highest volume since 2019.

Although 2023 now also ranks as DEN's busiest year ever in terms of origination and destination (O&D) traffic, the growth was just 0.1% over 2019, the previous busiest year for O&D passengers. Connecting passengers propelled DEN's extraordinary growth in 2023 on an increase of 35.7% as compared to 2019.

Total cargo volume at DEN in 2023 surpassed 680 million tons, a 5.9% decrease as compared to 2022 but a 1.4% increase as compared to 2019. In 2023, cargo volume on passenger carriers exceeded 2022 volume by 8.1% while volume on all-cargo carriers declined by 10%.

Worldwide passenger traffic statistics from Airports Council International (ACI) are available through October 2023. Through the first 10 months of the year, DEN ranked as the third-busiest airport in the U.S. and the fifth-busiest airport in the world. Preliminary full-year data from ACI will be available this spring.